Each day in April, I will feature media from the Wikimedia Commons ("a database of 16,565,065 freely usable media files to which anyone can contribute") along with bits and pieces of my brainstorming and both unfinished and finished poems.

I will be using the media to inspire my poetry, but I am going to invite my students to use my daily media picks to inspire any original creation: poems, stories, comics, music, videos, sculptures, drawings...anything!

You are invited to join the fun, too! Leave a link to your creation in the comments and I'll add it to that day's post. I'll add pictures of my students' work throughout the month as well.

My response is science only in the human response, Mary Lee & Kevin. I'm a little alarmed at what came into my mind. I love your "chew-chew" Mary Lee, & did laugh! And Kevin, I love the idea of dinner "cavorting". Here's mine:

With Apologies to Joyce Kilmer

I think I never want to seea sushi train click-clack by me,

a train who only runs to servethose with quick hands and steely nerve,

a train full of makimono andfutomaki - nori the outside band.

I will accompany friends who wishto grab each and every tasty dish

But I’ll sit calmly with spring rolls and tea.These trains aren’t made for fools like me

We're Both NCTE Members

We Are Proud Members of the Kidlitosphere

Kidlitosphere Central: The Society of Bloggers in Children's and Young Adult Literature --click the button to visit the website

We Are ALSO Proud Members of the Nerdy Book Club

Celebrate!

About Us

Franki and Mary Lee are both teachers, and have been for more than 20 years.

Franki is a third grade teacher. She is also the author of Beyond Leveled Books (Stenhouse), Still Learning to Read (Stenhouse), Day-to-Day Assessment in the Reading Workshop (Scholastic) and The Joy of Planning (Choice Literacy). She is also a regular contributor to Choice Literacy.

Mary Lee is a fifth grade teacher. She is also the author of Reconsidering Read-Aloud (Stenhouse) and has poems in the Poetry Friday Anthology, the Poetry Friday Anthology for Middle School, and the Poetry Friday Anthology for Science (Pomelo Books).